Sienna Gestion Buys 18,500 Shares of Sun Life Financial Inc. $SLF

Sienna Gestion lifted its stake in Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 186,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,500 shares during the quarter. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Sun Life Financial were worth $11,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,595,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,407,626,000 after buying an additional 361,596 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 2.4% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,100,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $921,330,000 after buying an additional 374,682 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 8.9% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 10,338,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $591,968,000 after buying an additional 846,735 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 5.2% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 6,748,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $385,740,000 after buying an additional 335,054 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Sun Life Financial by 4.8% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,780,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $330,848,000 after buying an additional 266,732 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on SLF shares. Argus raised Sun Life Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sun Life Financial in a report on Thursday, October 9th. TD Securities upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Cibc Captl Mkts cut Sun Life Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sun Life Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.50.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE SLF opened at $61.65 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.31. The firm has a market cap of $34.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.90. Sun Life Financial Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.44 and a twelve month high of $66.81.

Sun Life Financial (NYSE:SLF) (TSE:SLF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.34 billion. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 17.21% and a net margin of 7.59%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sun Life Financial Inc. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be given a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 26th. This is a positive change from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.87%.

Sun Life Financial Profile

Sun Life Financial Inc, a financial services company, provides savings, retirement, and pension products worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Asset Management, Canada, U.S., Asia, and Corporate. It offers various insurance products, such as term and permanent life; personal health, which includes prescription drugs, dental, and vision care; critical illness; long-term care; and disability, as well as reinsurance.